Finally had a chance to poke around in the archive for a while. It looks like it has a lot of potential but could use some help with the content and layout. I like the way items are grouped for each show - with photos, fan envelopes and links to the archive recordings of the shows. Searching for shows is not that easy. As of now a google map shows up with pin drop locations of places played. I think it would be way more helpful to be able to search by year, with a Deadbase-like format with shows listed in chronologic order with each set lists as a starting point.

There are also a lot of cool pictures, but they are hard to navigate and search through. Also surprising that it looks like a lot of non-1st choice photos are available. You can save the images without any watermark so that is cool, but based on pics I've seen from the same photographers, throughout the years and on their websites, the best shots are not what are showing up here. In fact the Rob Cohn images come up as restricted access. Maybe they just haven't scanned that much - or they are slowly releasing the content.

I like that they are seeking comments, information and submissions - so if you see missing information you can add comments for the staff to review and add into the archive.

Hopefully it will continue to grow so we have a virtual Deadbase-like archive with easily accessible photos and other related info sorted by specific shows.

Hey, I'm the programmer on GDAO. Thanks Cmnaround for the feedback (and do, folks, send feedback to the grateful@ucsc.edu email address -- we are interested in hearing it and making improvements, etc. This is only the first step in providing access to content -- there will be more to come in content and improved access).

Yeah, we originally had shows plotted on the timeline so that you could browse shows chronologically (in addition to by the map). It turned out that the Javascript timeline couldn't handle that many shows in a responsive manner though so we had to take them back out. I agree a good feature to add would be to provide better browsing by date. In the meantime, you can search for a particular known date just by entering it in the search box like: "1995-02-26"

Also, folks, submit your scans, photos, stories, etc. using the Contribution link. It's intended to be a socially constructed archive of fan materials in addition to the materials that were donated by the band. Thanks again for the comments Cmnaround! There will be formal user testing now that GDAO is rolled out so any comments you send to grateful@ucsc.edu will help inform that and the next round of improvements.

Last edited by ksclarke on Wed Jul 04, 2012 10:06 am, edited 7 times in total.

Wow that is cool that you found this - and so fast too. Can't wait to see how the archive progresses over the next few months. That would be great if you were able to get a show + set list format for each show. We live by shows, set lists and how different song combinations and patterns evolved over the years.

Yeah, personally, I hope we see some collaboration between GDAO and DeadLists. I can see GDAO adding browsing by date of show in the next round of development (we wanted to this time but just couldn't get it in before launch) and then maybe linking out to DeadLists for the songs or something. Anyway, I've added browsing by date of show to our todo feature-list.

Came across this nice review of the new Dead archive at Uc Santa Cruz - mostly about the process of cataloging all of the stuff in the archive from a library perspective - should take you to a downloadable PDF - first article in table of contents

I bet they are missing a bunch of stuff right now cuz it's (was) on loan for an exhibit at the Rock n Roll Hall of Fame in Cleveland. I really like the new site and think it's great that they want contributions and seem genuine in wanting to continue improvements. To anyone reading this who worked on it -Grate Job!!! It's a lot of material and that's a fantastic launch. I'm sure it will evolve and only get better. I've added a new bookmark

Well, the idea isn't for everything to available in "Dead Central" at any given moment in time (from my understanding, the collection is quite large and not all of it has been processed yet). The public space at the entrance to the library is an exhibit space and there will be different exhibits in that space throughout the year. So visit multiple times and you may see different parts of the collection.

Also, I worked on that project (the website) so thanks for the positive feedback wildeye! It will continue to grow and evolve